Using Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's

Doctors from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are currently experimenting with an implanted “pacemaking” device in Alzheimer’s patients in an attempt to help them retain their independence. This device allows the patient to undergo Deep Brain Stimulation therapy.

This therapy involves implanting electric wires into the patient’s brain and then connecting them to a battery pack implanted in the chest. This pack sends electric currents through the wires to help stimulate the part of the brain that controls the abilities to problem-solve, plan, and use judgment.
This therapy has already been implemented in thousands of patients who have Parkinson’s disease in order to help them overcome their tremors. However, the use of Deep Brain Stimulation to treat Alzheimer’s is still in its experimental stage. While previous studies have focused on stimulating the brain regions that govern memory, this new study moves the focus area.

The Ohio state tests have shown positive results in all three of the patients who took part in the pilot study. In fact, the progression of the disease slowed significantly. By turning back on part of the brain, the two patients could be able to retain their quality of life longer than those who are not undergoing therapy. While it may not be able to cure the disease itself, Deep Brain Stimulation seems to have the potential to provide patients with some welcome, immediate relief.

However, the science behind the therapy’s effectiveness for Alzheimer’s is still developing. Andres Lozano from the University of Toronto is also undertaking studies to test how successful the therapy is for people with Alzheimer’s. In an interview, Lozano stressed that the treatment is not meant to cure the disease, and it does not cease cognitive design altogether.

Assault on Alzheimer’s

Researchers from all over the world are constantly working to better understand Alzheimer’s to fuel future breakthroughs in treatment. To meet this end, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced a $100 million initiative last year to help defeat this debilitating disease.

A promising blood test that is being studied in Japan could increase the time doctors have to treat the disease by up to thirty years. Not only could early detection let doctors form better treatment plans, but it could also help researchers learn a lot more about how the disease progresses over this period of time, giving greater insight into its development.

Other researchers are currently working on treatments that could potentially delay or prevent the disease from developing. Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo, are targeting a specific gene variant that increases the risk of developing the disease by a factor of 12.

Furthermore, human trials are also underway for two preventative measures that could also prevent the disease from ever developing. Researchers from the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine are currently testing an oral medication as well as a vaccine that targets the proteins which build up in the brains of disease sufferers.

However, all these procedures are still under investigation. Deep Brain Stimulation therapies could be a welcome addition to treat the symptoms of the disease while researchers work on eradicating it once and for all. Allowing patients to retain greater levels of independence is a great step forward and will buy more families more time as the researchers continue their very important work.

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Tiny cell: Good news for cancer survivors

A scientist at the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) in Mumbai – an institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) –n says a new type of stem cell identified by her team can help restore fertility in men and women who have undergone treatment for cancer.

Cancer treatment, or ‘oncotherapy’, that involves use of radiation and chemicals, renders patients infertile as an unwanted side effect and, while cured of cancer, they cannot beget children.

Though women are born with a lifetime reserve of ‘oocytes’ (immature eggs), these are wiped out by oncotherapy. In males, the testes responsible for the production of sperms stop making them following cancer treatment.

Currently accepted approaches for fertility preservation require male patients to deposit their sperm in ‘cryo-banks’ before beginning cancer treatment for later use. Similarly women, wanting to have children, must have their eggs or embryos ‘cryopreserved’ for use after oncotherapy.

“Such approaches are invasive, expensive, technically challenging and depend on assisted reproductive technologies,” reports a cell biologist.

According to the report, there is now a way out. She says research by her team over the years led to identification of a novel population of ‘Very Small Embryonic-Like stem cells (VSELs)’, in testis (in males) and ovaries (in females).

Being ‘quiescent’ by nature, these primitive stem cells (VSELs) survive cancer therapy and therefore can offer young cancer survivors options to have children without having to bank their sperms or embryos prior to oncotherapy, says the report.

“The VSELs have remained elusive over decades due to their small size and presence in very few numbers,” she says.

The discovery of these unique VSELs (in testes and ovaries) that do not succumb to oncotherapy “opens up an alternative strategy to regenerate non-functional gonads and ovaries in cancer survivors,” says the biologist.

While VSELs survive cancer treatment, their original “habitat” (or niche) however gets destroyed by oncotherapy. To make the VSELs functional, their “niche” should be re-created by transplanting “mesenchymal cells” – another type of stem cells taken from the bone marrow – into the testes, says the report.

A simple and direct transplantation of “mesenchymal cells in the non-functional gonads may suffice to regenerate them,” she says. “Similarly, transplantation of ‘ovarian surface epithelial cells’ may allow the VSELs to regenerate nonfunctional ovaries.”

“This approach to fertility restoration is safe,” says the biologist pointing out to earlier studies carried out in her laboratory in mice which had shown that this method restored the role of non-functional ovaries and resulted in the birth of fertile offsprings.

“Our group also successfully restored spermatogenesis (sperm production) in non-functional mouse testis by transplanting niche (mesenchymal) cells, into the testis,” she said.

In the light of these findings, she says the field of oncofertility may undergo a sea-change and existing strategies of cryopreservation of gametes and gonadal tissue for fertility preservation in cancer patients will have to be revised. “Pilot clinical studies (in humans) need to be undertaken.”

“VSELs may be an alternative cell source for induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells,” said a researcher. “But it is still far away from the clinic as isolation and large scale expansion of these cells has to be standardized.” 

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